When you think of virtual reality (VR), often you think of people playing high-tech video games. But did you know that virtual reality is also being used to help engineer the future?

Well, car maker Ford Company and space contractor United Space Alliance (USA) know the effectiveness of VR and have partnered to share with each other what they know about virtual reality software and learn from their experiences. What they learn will benefit both cars and spacecraft alike.

Ford utilizes VR animation software (the same used in video games and CGI movies) to help design new cars. In their immersive Virtual Evaluation (iVE) lab, Ford engineers can recreate realistic driving conditions in order to help invent and alter the look of a vehicle before a tangible prototype is ever created. Not only does this allow engineers to see how the vehicle will perform under certain conditions, but the design could also be altered to make drivers even more comfortable in the vehicle.

For the United Space Alliance (major contractor to the Space Shuttle Program), they use a similar VR technology in order to design and test environments for the Space Shuttles and future spacecraft. USA engineers are currently using VR to help track and characterize falling debris that could occur during launch.

Seperately Ford and USA were performing impressive work with VR in design and engineering, but when the two companies started sharing virtual reality information, mutual benefits began to occur. For example, Ford aided USA engineers in enhancing VR software in order to improve human movement sims along with motion tracking to aid in spacecraft repairs. USA helped Ford engineering by offering suggestions for computer and projector hardware as well as aiding in creating faster simulation response times for more productive immersive simulations.

It was extremely interesting to see how similar our efforts are regarding automobile and spacecraft processing. When the two teams got together a wealth of creative ideas were formed and lasting friendships were made. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the Ford team.

Helping our designers build cars that are a better fit for drivers and passengers is a thrill and teaming up and sharing ideas with USA for the benefit of our space program is a whole other level of cool. We’ve learned a great deal from USA about how to make our virtual lab even more life-like for engineers and designers so our new vehicles look and feel just right inside.